Laura Akers" />
Psycho Drive-In logo
Search
  • PDI Press
    Featured
    • BETTY WHITE VS THE STUPID WORLD: The Movie

      Laura Akers
      January 17, 2022
      Fiction, PDI Press, PDI Press Writers
    Recent
    • BETTY WHITE VS THE STUPID WORLD: The Movie

      John E. Meredith
      January 17, 2022
    • Betty White Vs the Stupid World (Chapter Seven)

      John E. Meredith
      January 16, 2022
    • Betty White Vs the Stupid World (Chapter Six)

      John E. Meredith
      January 15, 2022
    • PDI Press Catalog
    • PDI Press Writers
      • Fiction
  • Columns A-D
    • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
    • ABCs of Horror
    • All Binge… No Purge
    • Anything Joes
    • Beautiful Creatures
    • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
    • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
    • Cahiers du Horror
    • Dispatches From the Field
    • Drive-In Saturday
    • Dungeons & D-Listers
  • Columns F-P
    • The Final Girl
    • First Looks… Second Thoughts
    • The Flesh is Weak
    • Innocence and Experience
    • Lost in Translation
    • Page to Screen
    • Popcorn Cinema
    • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
  • Columns S-Z
    • Schlock & Awe
    • Shakespeare on Film
    • Shot for Shot
    • Sick Flix
    • Unnatural Selections
    • Versus
    • Video Word Made Flesh
    • We Got Lists
    • Women in Horror
    • The Xeno File
    • Zombies 101
  • Reviews
    Featured
    • Heart of Stone (2023)

      Laura Akers
      August 18, 2023
      Movies, Reviews
    Recent
    • Heart of Stone (2023)

      Nate Zoebl
      August 18, 2023
    • Obstacle Corpse (2022)

      Nate Zoebl
      July 20, 2023
    • Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

      Paul Brian McCoy
      July 16, 2023
    • Books
    • Comics
    • DVD/Blu-ray
    • Movies
    • TV
    • Series
  • Interviews
    Featured
    • Interview with Indie Horror Master, Chris Bickel

      Laura Akers
      July 13, 2018
      Interviews
    Recent
    • Interview with Indie Horror Master, Chris Bickel

      The Final Girl
      July 13, 2018
    • David Black: Carnies, Carnage, and the Creative Chaos of Darkness Visible

      Dan Lee
      March 7, 2017
    • Jaiden Kaine joins the Marvel Universe as new Luke Cage baddie, Zip

      Andre Lamar
      September 29, 2016
    • SDCC 2016 Interviews: The Cast and Creators of Batman: The Killing Joke

      Jason Sacks
      July 28, 2016
    • SDCC 2016 Interviews: The Cast and Creators of Syfy’s Van Helsing

      Dave Hearn, Paul Brian McCoy
      July 27, 2016
    • Wondercon Interview: The Cast of Damien

      Gary Richardson, Laura Akers
      April 16, 2016
  • News
    Featured
    • Breaking Down The Upcoming DC Studios Slate

      Laura Akers
      February 1, 2023
      News, Shot for Shot
    Recent
    • Breaking Down The Upcoming DC Studios Slate

      Paul Brian McCoy
      February 1, 2023
    • John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum arrives on Digital 8/23 and 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD and On Demand 9/10

      psychodr
      July 30, 2019
    • X-Men: Dark Phoenix arrives on Digital 9/3 and 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD 9/17

      Paul Brian McCoy
      July 16, 2019
    • Trailers
  • Psychos
  • Merchandise
Breaking
  • Heart of Stone (2023)
  • Obstacle Corpse (2022)
  • Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)
  • Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)
  • The Flash (2023) / Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)
  • Evil Dead Rise (2023)
  • RSS
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Tumblr
  • Who We Be
  • Contact
  • PDI Press
    • PDI Press Catalog
    • PDI Press Writers
      • Fiction
  • Columns A-D
    • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
    • ABCs of Horror
    • All Binge… No Purge
    • Anything Joes
    • Beautiful Creatures
    • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
    • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
    • Cahiers du Horror
    • Dispatches From the Field
    • Drive-In Saturday
    • Dungeons & D-Listers
  • Columns F-P
    • The Final Girl
    • First Looks… Second Thoughts
    • The Flesh is Weak
    • Innocence and Experience
    • Lost in Translation
    • Page to Screen
    • Popcorn Cinema
    • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
  • Columns S-Z
    • Schlock & Awe
    • Shakespeare on Film
    • Shot for Shot
    • Sick Flix
    • Unnatural Selections
    • Versus
    • Video Word Made Flesh
    • We Got Lists
    • Women in Horror
    • The Xeno File
    • Zombies 101
  • Reviews
    • Books
    • Comics
    • DVD/Blu-ray
    • Movies
    • TV
    • Series
  • Interviews
  • News
    • Trailers
  • Psychos
  • Merchandise
Home
Reviews

Once Upon a Time 2.09 “The Queen of Hearts”

Laura Akers
December 11, 2012
Reviews, TV

Warning: A non-numeric value encountered in /home/psychodr/public_html/wp/wp-content/themes/valenti/library/core.php on line 1104

Cliffhangers can be very useful. When a writer has more story to tell than can be fit within her format (novel/movie/television series), rather than simply condensing the tale to fit—and often editing out the best character moments, dialogues, and insights—she can choose to break up the story into more than one part. By making the break at a moment where the story is reaching some crisis, she also provides motivation for the audience to pick up the next installment to see how everything works (or doesn’t work) out. It plays on humanity’s natural affinity for narrative, our curiosity, our ravenous desire to know what happens next.

But like everything, this technique can be abused. Probably the most unapologetic example of this is J. J. Abrams’s Lost. It is one thing for a series to have a cliffhanger at the end of a season. That’s a great way to keep your audience over a months-long off-season break. It is quite another to make every single episode end in a cliffhanger, subjecting your audience to unfulfilled suspense for six out of every seven days in the week. But Lost took this to a whole new level by leading into every single commercial break with a cliffhanger.  Five or more of them in a 42-minute episode, all but forcing us not to switch away even for a moment, lest we miss something. This is why I stopped watching Lost regularly after the second season: I simply couldn’t take the stress. I wasn’t looking forward to finding out what happened (since I knew that that question would simply be replaced with others); I just felt manipulated into tuning in.

Intothewell

Not that manipulation of your audience is bad in a writer. Manipulation is the writer’s trade. But a good writer never lets her audience know just how much she is manipulating them.

On Lost, there were few, if any, real moments when the audience was able to take a breath, relax, and feel as though they had reached a natural break in the story. Because, while we get few of them IRL, there are always those moments in our life-stories where one part ends and another begins: the moment you realize you’re finally over a bad breakup, when you leave home for the first time, when you lose someone you care about. It is not the end of your story, but it is the end of some important piece of it. And now you’re ready (and often eager) to start the next one.

And while both Lost and Once Upon a Time are shows driven almost exclusively by their large myth arcs, this is what separates the two series most sharply: OUaT knows the limits of the cliffhanger and how to use it without leaving the audience feeling blackmailed into catching the next installment.

lonelyheart

Last week was the mid-season finale of the fairy-tale-based series. Thus far, the show has had three “finale” episodes. Last season’s midseason finale concluded with the death of Sheriff Graham/Huntsman, not just ending his budding redemption and relationship with Emma, but opening up new ground by making it clear that Regina not only remembers her previous life, but still retains some magical powers from it—setting her up as an extremely formidable foe to be overcome. The season finale reunited lovers Snow and Charming and returned to the inhabitants of Storybrooke their memory of who they really are and where they come from.

But with this came the introduction of magic into our world, something that, despite the triumph of good over evil in the episode, promised a more epic battle with? between? Regina and Rumplestiltskin next season. And last week’s finale wrapped up the nine-episode subplot around Snow and Emma’s journey to the Enchanted Forest, but also heralded the arrival of uber-baddie Cora and a very disgruntled Hook into our world.

In other words, each finale has sewn up part of the ongoing story of OUaT in an emotionally fulfilling way while simultaneously opening the door to the next substantial portion of the tale. We get our happily ever after and are allowed to enjoy that, all the time knowing that more awaits us once the series returns.

Not that “The Queen of Hearts” wasn’t a successful episode just on its individual merits.

queenofhearts

Barbara Hershey’s Cora just continues to build up evil cred in two worlds before entering a third. There had been a lot of speculation about who the Queen of Hearts was, and not only does the series clear this up, but it did it in a way which added a dark and ironic twist to that title. Not only is she the taker of hearts through magic, but she also continues, despite her evil, to hold her daughter’s more figuratively, in her hands. The fact that she does not kill Regina outright (knowing that Regina believed she had been successful in having Cora killed) revealed that the heartless bitch actually isn’t.

Meanwhile, Aurora matures as a character. After being used as a pawn by Cora, she realizes that she poses such a danger to Emma and Snow (and actually gives a damned now about that) that she begs them to tie her up, leaving her in a dungeon in an abandoned mine in an abandoned world. She has no hope of salvation. Which makes it all the sweeter when Mulan retrieves her heart and flies back to rescue a Sleeping Beauty finally worthy of such fidelity.

Hiringanassassin

Regina is also given the opportunity to redeem herself by giving into the pleas of Henry and choosing to do the right thing, despite Rumple’s arguments that the odds are very much against success. That this leads to a brief reconciliation with her son, followed by the kind of callow, unintended rejection that children specialize in, places her in the same ambivalent position as Rumple: both wrestle with seemingly equal pulls towards good and evil, leaving it impossible for us to predict which they will choose. And Lana Parilla’s performance of the devastated Regina rivals that of Goodwin’s in the nursery at the end of “Lady of the Lake.” Subtle, brilliant, and ultimately ambiguous.

We also get a lot of insight into just how much of a long-game Rumple is capable of running, and what can still surprise such a master manipulator. Granted one of the plot holes I pointed out last week was only partially resolved (why Rumple had the squid ink), but the levels on which he is playing this game (and thus the sophistication of the writers’ story) are quite impressive.

But the happy ending is really Emma and Snow’s. Snow returns to Charming and awakes him from his deadly sleep, reuniting with her true love and leaving her surrounded by her now-extended family. Her daughter Emma not only regains her son (and the naturalness with which they now interact speaks volumes about the state of that somewhat tricky relationship), but learns an important truth about herself: while Rumple may have set up virtually everything, she isn’t merely his pawn but someone with agency who exceeds the requirements of the savior he fashioned her to be.

wakingup

And this happy ending is what demonstrates the mastery the writers of OUaT have in relation to cliffhangers. Shows which abuse the technique betray a certain insecurity: if we give the viewers a substantial narrative payoff, they won’t come back for more. Thus, in order to ensure our audience, we have to keep them in an unrelenting state of suspense. The problem with this is that such storytelling is wholly artificial. Anyone who experienced five or more crises in 42 minutes for years on end would likely be diagnosed with mental illness. This just isn’t how reality works. It’s not even how narrative works. It’s alarmist and exhausting. And beneath it all is a quiet worried whisper:  “Our actual story isn’t truly good enough to keep anyone’s interest.”

OUaT, by giving us a substantial and satisfying resolution, sends a very different message: we know our show is good enough that just the promise of more will be enough to make you mark our return on your calendar. And they are right: complex and engaging storytelling, compelling and dynamic characters, good production values, and performances that run the gamut from solid to stellar—those are the reasons we’ll tune back in on January 6. Cora and Hook are closing in on Storybrooke, both with agendas that promise to shake things up and spark great battles. Snow and company are in the best possible shape to mount an impressive defense. I don’t feel cheated by having to wait til January. Instead, it’s like a narrative Christmas…nothing but happy anticipation and the certainty that Santa (Horowitz and Kitsis) will once again deliver.

(Visited 151 times, 1 visits today)
Once Upon a Time 2.09 “The Queen of Hearts”
4.5Overall Score

Related

Laura AkersOnce Upon a Time

Dexter 7.09 “Helter Skelter” & 7.10 “The Dark… Whatever”
The Vampire Diaries 4.08 “We’ll Always Have Bourbon Street”

About The Author

monsterid
Laura Akers
Voice of the People / Firebrand

Laura Akers is a teacher by calling and a geek academic by nature. Her often too-lengthy writing and her own personal musings tend to revolve around issues of gender, sexuality, identity, politics, religion (and all the other things you’re not supposed to bring up in polite conversation) in TV/film/webseries and other narratives. You can keep up with her ramblings on these subjects by following @laurajakers

Related Posts

  • Supernatural 11.01, 11.02, & 11.03

    Laura Akers
    October 28, 2015
  • Supernatural 10.01 “Black” & 10.02 “Reichenbach”

    Laura Akers
    October 21, 2014

Daily Top Ten

  • Uzumaki (2000)Uzumaki (2000) by Matthew Fantaci
  • The Final Girl: I Spit on Your Grave (2010)The Final Girl: I Spit on Your Grave (2010) by The Final Girl
  • Transformers: The Last Knight (2017)Transformers: The Last Knight (2017) by Nate Zoebl
  • If It Ain't Funk He Don't Feel It: Howard the Duck (1986)If It Ain’t Funk He Don’t Feel It:… by Paul Brian McCoy
  • Utopia 1.05Utopia 1.05 by Paul Brian McCoy
  • Doctor Who 6.07: "A Good Man Goes to War"Doctor Who 6.07: “A Good Man Goes to War” by Paul Brian McCoy
  • Jason Trost Needs Your Help to Create A World Without SuperheroesJason Trost Needs Your Help to Create A World… by Adam Barraclough
  • The Muppets (2011)The Muppets (2011) by Jessica Sowards
  • Drive-In Saturday: Invasion of the Bee Girls (1973)Drive-In Saturday: Invasion of the Bee Girls (1973) by Paul Brian McCoy
  • Justified 6.09 “Burned”Justified 6.09 “Burned” by Thom V. Young
400x400 GI Joe Funko Banner

Weekly Top Ten

  • The Final Girl: I Spit on Your Grave (2010)The Final Girl: I Spit on Your Grave (2010) by The Final Girl
  • Adventure Time 6.06 “Breezy”Adventure Time 6.06 “Breezy” by Dave Hearn
  • Lost in Translation 435: Remaking Blue Thunder (1983)Lost in Translation 435: Remaking Blue Thunder (1983) by Scott Delahunt
  • The Hills Have Eyes (1977) vs The Hills Have Eyes (2006)The Hills Have Eyes (1977) vs The Hills Have Eyes (2006) by Corin Totin
  • Haunted House on Sorority Row (2014)Haunted House on Sorority Row (2014) by Paul Brian McCoy
  • Drive-In Saturday: Heavy Metal 2000 (2000)Drive-In Saturday: Heavy Metal 2000 (2000) by Alex Wolfe
  • Advance Review: The Legend of Tarzan (2016) Blu-rayAdvance Review: The Legend of Tarzan (2016) Blu-ray by Paul Brian McCoy
  • Night of the Living Dead 30th Anniversary EditionNight of the Living Dead 30th Anniversary Edition by Dan Lee
  • The Xeno File: The Man Who Stole the Sun (1979)The Xeno File: The Man Who Stole the Sun (1979) by Serdar Yegulalp
  • Dungeons & D-Listers: Barbarian Queen (1985)Dungeons & D-Listers: Barbarian Queen (1985) by Alex Wolfe
400x400 UA Affiliate Banner

Latest Reviews

  • Heart of Stone (2023)

    Nate Zoebl
    August 18, 2023
  • Obstacle Corpse (2022)

    Nate Zoebl
    July 20, 2023
  • Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

    Paul Brian McCoy
    July 16, 2023

psychodrivein

Today at https://psychodrivein.com Lost in Transl Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Lost in Translation 449: Gamera - Rebirth (2023)

Overall, Gamera: Rebirth takes the goofier aspects of the Gamera films and turns them into moments of awesome.
---
Read more of Scott's article at the link in our profile!

#LostInTranslation #Gamera #GameraRebirth #Netflix
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes: Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Anything Joes: S01E66 - De-Classified Debt

Greg and Jaren talk news, acquisitions, and balancing the budget when all your toys are arriving at the same time.
---
Watch the @AnythingJoesPod guys at the link in our profile!

#Anything Joes #GIJoe #GIJoeDeclassified #WrathOfCobra
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Lost in Transl Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Lost in Translation - Defusing Bombs: Cutthroat Island (1995)

Cutthroat Island is worth a look, keeping in mind its weaknesses.
---
Read more of Scott's article at the link in our profile!

#LostInTranslation #CutthroatIsland #GeenaDavis #RennyHarlin #MatthewModine #FrankLangella
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes: Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Anything Joes: S01E65 - Pyramid of Darkness (2): Rendezvous in the City of the Dead

Greg and Jaren continue their dive into the classic G.I. Joe mini-series Pyramid Of Darkness! 
---
Watch the @AnythingJoesPod gang at the link in our profile!

#AnythingJoes #GIJoe #GIJoeARealAmericanHero #PyramidOfDarkness
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Lost in Transl Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Lost in Translation 447: Batman: The Animated Series (1992)

Batman: the Animated Series demonstrates how to adapt a popular character without losing the character’s essence.
---
Read more of Scott's article at the link in our profile!

#Batman #BatmanTheAnimatedSeries #MarkHamill #KevinConroy #ArleenSorkin #WB #DC
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Heart of Stone Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Heart of Stone (2023)

It’s hard for me to envision anything Heart of Stone could offer that people would request a return visit.
---
Read more of Nate's review at the link in our profile!

#HeartOfStone #GalGadot #Netflix
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes: Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Anything Joes: S01E64 - Pyramid of Darkness (1)

It's time! Greg introduces Jaren to the first episode of the iconic "Pyramid of Darkness" series from G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero!
---
Watch the @AnythingJoesPod guys watch the cartoon at the link in our profile!

#AnythingJoes #GIJoe #ARealAmericanHero #PyramidOfDarkness
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes: Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Anything Joes: S01E63 - Kentuckiana 2023 

Greg and Jaren discuss the new layout, the vendors, and their recent acquisitions from attending The Kentuckiana G.I. Joe Toy Expo! 
---
Watch the new @AnythingJoesPod video at the link in our profile!

#AnythingJoes #Kentuckiana #KentuckianaGIJoeToyExpo #GIJoe #Kentuckiana2023 #KentuckianaGIJoeToyExpo2023
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Lost in Transl Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Lost in Translation 446: Cowboy Bebop (2021)

One snag the live-action Cowboy Bebop has is trying too hard to look like the anime.
---
Read more of Scott's article at the link in our profile!

#AnythingJoes #CowboyBebop #Netflix #Sunrise #HajimeYatate #ShinichiroWatanabe #YokoKanno #Seatbelts #JohnCho #MustafaShakir #DaniellaPineda #AlexHassell #ElenaSatine
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Latest Columns

  • Lost in Translation 449: Gamera – Rebirth (2023)

    Scott Delahunt
    September 22, 2023
  • Anything Joes: S01E66 – De-Classified Debt

    Greg Engle
    September 13, 2023
  • Lost in Translation 448 – Defusing Bombs: Cutthroat Island (1995)

    Scott Delahunt
    September 8, 2023

Look Who's Talking

Barbie Worldwide
Barbie Worldwide - 8/5/2023
Lost in Translation 429: The Barbie Movie Teaser
Barbie still in the driver's seat and the movie is speeding past a billion by August 7, 2023.
John E. Meredith
John E. Meredith - 4/5/2023
EZMM 2023 Day 3.1: Zombie for Sale (2019)
Of course, I just woke up from an old-man nap and had a strong urination before reading this, so now...
John E. Meredith
John E. Meredith - 4/3/2023
EZMM 2023 Day 1.1: I Am a Hero (2015)
Oh hell yeah. Looks like one more thing to add to my watch list.
RSSTwitterFacebookinstagramtumblr

Archives

Large_rectangle_336X280
All work on this site is Copyright © each individual writer.
  • PDI Press
    • PDI Press Catalog
    • PDI Press Writers
      • Fiction
  • Columns A-D
    • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
    • ABCs of Horror
    • All Binge… No Purge
    • Anything Joes
    • Beautiful Creatures
    • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
    • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
    • Cahiers du Horror
    • Dispatches From the Field
    • Drive-In Saturday
    • Dungeons & D-Listers
  • Columns F-P
    • The Final Girl
    • First Looks… Second Thoughts
    • The Flesh is Weak
    • Innocence and Experience
    • Lost in Translation
    • Page to Screen
    • Popcorn Cinema
    • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
  • Columns S-Z
    • Schlock & Awe
    • Shakespeare on Film
    • Shot for Shot
    • Sick Flix
    • Unnatural Selections
    • Versus
    • Video Word Made Flesh
    • We Got Lists
    • Women in Horror
    • The Xeno File
    • Zombies 101
  • Reviews
    • Books
    • Comics
    • DVD/Blu-ray
    • Movies
    • TV
    • Series
  • Interviews
  • News
    • Trailers
  • Psychos
  • Merchandise